Beeroclock

RDC8 and I have set up a group on Facebook, he’s on holiday at the moment, but if you’re interested feel free to message me. We fairly regularly buy a 1/4 to 1/2 a pallet of green and have accounts with Olam, Falcon, Cafe Imports, as well as some of the smaller importers like Cal’s Coffee, Agri Evolve (Rwenzori), Indochina, Osito, Raw Material and I’ve just signed up with iFinca. We are based in the South East and West. I travel up and down the M4/M5 corridor fairly frequently. From a personal perspective - I’m not really interested in doing small lots of 1kg, unless you want to come and pick up from me in Wiltshire, what we don’t do is mark up the cost of green apart from what we pay in delivery. RDC8 might send out smaller amounts, or group together and get your own thing going. On the decaf side of things - I’ll be looking to buy some fairly soon - so would g be happily split a bag with someone. Cheers Phil

Can you put my name in the hat too please? - message sent with my credentials Thanks Philip

Have you looked at Aillio Bullet?

Don't speak Taiwanese But 12 minutes to reach FC on a 100g load and then just over a minute development time - seems like a very odd profile. Let's just assumie that those temps have any sort of correlation to a conventional roast and dry end was somewhere between 150 and 160c. This would give a Maillard phase of in the region of 8mins - really?? It would seem that he is logging his FC time at 196c and dropping at 199c - really?? No way to tell what the end temp of the bean is. Then he pulls the cage out of the unit and instead of emptying the beans out so that he can cool them quickly - he leaves the whole unit in the cooler and gets busy cleaning the inside of the roaster - really?? Imho -t's pretty crucial to get those beans cool within 2-4mins after dropping or they're just continuing to "cook". Then there's the cupping session and instead of breaking the crust - he scopes it all out - rather than letting it settle and just removing the top slurry, odd technique. Hmmm...

Hi Matt I think it’s pretty obvious which camp I’m in on that one, but in truth I’ve not used the Sandbox, but I know for a fact that the workflow and subscription model just wouldn’t work for me, as well as other issues I’ve previously mentioned. Getting meaningful readings below 300g with the stock probe on the Cormorant is tricky, but not impossible. Cheers Phil

Thanks @MediumRoastSteam 😀. @mattpitts74 - I love how easy the Nano 7 is to roast on. Back to back is no problem - no pissing about with gloves etc😉. I’m in the process of learning how to tweak the profiles and this is a learning curve. But as a sample roaster (which I use it for) it’s great. I recently sampled coffees from Olam and Indochina and was able to get a good idea of what the coffee’s potential were. I’m hoping to arrange some one to ones with Wayne Burrows - who designed a lot of the core profiles that come with the machine. When I’ve done this I’d like to do a few tutorial videos. If you’re really interested - I’d be happy to roast some samples for you - just send me a pm. Do you still have your Cormorant? Cheers Phil

Hey Jord There has already been fair amount of discussion around this subject, if you do a quick search. But in essence buying green coffee in 1kg lots - just doesn't make sense. Cheapest small amounts are probably Coffee Compass. If you go the 5kg route - look at Falcon Micro or The Green Coffee Collective. Or Find some fellow roasters in your area and club together and buy a bag or 2 - it's what I did - will save you a considerable amount. Cheers Phil

Colombian Natural Manos Juntas sourced from Cafe Imports, roasted on a Golden GR1+ cheers Phil

Do your research, the Dalian is an electric roaster with a perforated drum, it behaves very differently to the other roasters you have mentioned. Out of the box it has no heat control unless you modify it. But you can run it off a 13amp supply. If you’re looking at cheaper Chinese roasters look at Bideli or Dongyi as well. Cheers Phil

If you can’t afford a Probat, Giesen, Diedrich, etc (and I personally wouldn’t spend that money on a 1kg machine, the next step down would be a Mill City (rebranded, reworked Chinese built - but quality built originally North Roasters) and some of the Turkish brands of which Golden (Nazarkahve) and Besca are 2 of the better ones imo. If you’re spending that sort of money I would question buying a 1kg and maybe look at a 2 or 3kg alternative - wouldn’t be significantly different in size. If you’re looking for something that will be a sample roaster to a larger machine later down the line then fair enough. If you go slightly larger you could look at Coffed from Poland supposed to be good machines. Whatever you decide on, make sure you can get parts for when something breaks - which it will at some point. also don’t forget to factor in a decent flue/exhaust - twin wall - will cost you £350-£1000+ depending on length etc. Cheers Philip ps - I have a Golden GR1+ hooked up to natural gas in my garage.

https://christopherferan.com/2021/04/21/trains-teslas-and-coffee-roasting/ interesting reading.. cheers Phil

One of the main reasons for “the soak” is for consistent in between batch protocol. This is particularly important on big machines with double wall drums and large thermal mass. It’s questionable how effective it is in a smaller roaster - especially with a perforated drum. My roaster is single walled and whilst there’s a lot of metal (150kg) plus insulation- heat in the drum drops off fairly quickly with burner off. So when soaking, I use low gas and minimal airflow. This helps me stabilise the machine for the next batch. I also find that this is good way to control the length of one’s drying phase - yet still be able to apply sufficient energy into the roast to achieve a decent peak ROR in order to maintain a steadily declining profile. I think this approach is particularly useful when roasting lower grown naturals, to get heat into the bean without scorching the exterior. cheers Phil

Hi Rodney after a crash like that the flick is inevitable. The crash most likely came because of the flat ROR before FC. This bean is one of the most challenging ones I’ve had so far, being a Pacamara - it’s huge!! and the honey process lets it charr easily. I include 2 profiles one a quicker roast - with higher end temp the second a larger batch (1kg) where I slowed everything down (for me). The aim is to extend the maillard phase and to get enough development in the bean without burning the sugars. The latter roast is very promising - though I will give it a little less soak and slightly longer post FC time next. The 1kg batch measured 26 on my Roast Vision. Alternatively - you could just use “The Force” Cheers Phil

I’m all about consistency at the moment and to me this makes absolute sense. Like pre drilling a hole or spiking grass to soak away water. In the time that I’ve used it, I get very consistent flows using the naked portafilter. cheers Phil

So I got a new tamper...and I made a little video. It’s from the same people that designed the Twister. I know we’ve seen concentric rings in a tamper base before - but this pattern is new to me. Here it is in my workflow., Cheers Phil